Focused on pancreatic cancer, a novel, multistep investigational treatment has been designed for one of the most complex and difficult-to-treat forms of the disease, locally advanced pancreatic cancer. This type of cancer has the lowest survival rate of any solid tumor, with a cumulative five-year survival rate of only 4 percent for all stages of disease. Surgery is rarely an option for patients because tumors often involve vital blood vessels. No treatment has had a significant impact on improving outcomes to date.

Share This

Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute are developing a novel, multistep investigational treatment for one of the most complex and difficult-to-treat forms of the disease, locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Related Articles

Locally advanced pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of any solid tumor, with a cumulative five-year survival rate of only 4 percent for all stages of disease. Surgery is rarely an option for patients because tumors often involve vital blood vessels. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy given concurrently remain the mainstay treatment, yet to-date, no treatment has had a significant impact on improving outcomes.

"To move the needle forward toward prolonged survival and better treatment outcomes, our research team created a combined investigational regimen for patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer," said Richard Tuli, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist in the Department of Radiation Oncology and a member of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. "Coupled with this research treatment, we are also looking to identify patient biomarkers, or molecular signatures, that may provide clues to how, and why, some patients respond better than others."

Tuli was the first author of a pre-clinical study recently published in the journal Translational Oncology. Using animal models, the study evaluated a novel treatment for pancreatic cancer that combines radiation, chemotherapy and treatment with a specific drug that can inhibit the repair of cancer cells damaged by chemotherapy and radiation. Successful research findings led to a clinical trial now enrolling eligible patients.

Many standard cancer treatments for pancreatic cancer, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy, kill tumors by damaging their DNA. When such DNA damage occurs, proteins known as PARPs move to the site of damage and begin to mend these broken strands of DNA, allowing cancerous cells and tumors to recover, grow and proliferate, thereby escaping the effects of treatment.

With this knowledge, researchers combined radiation with a drug to prevent PARP from repairing cancerous cells. When the treatment was given to laboratory mice, the combination resulted in prolonged survival.

"Based on this research, we are now conducting a first-in-human study combining the PARP inhibitor with radiation and chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, with an ultimate goal of improving survival rates and treatment outcomes," said Tuli.

The investigational treatment regimen also could prove beneficial to patients with other forms of cancer. Recent research findings suggest PARP could be beneficial for patients who carry either or both the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. "Normal" BRCA genes help suppress tumor formation and repair damaged DNA; the mutated genes' protective mechanisms are compromised, leading to genetic defects that result in cancer. But the "defective" repair capability is a process that may be exploited by treatments, such as PARP inhibition, which further impairs the ability of tumors to repair their own DNA after insult with radiation.

In addition to adding a novel PARP inhibitor to the regimen, investigators are seeking to identify other markers related to DNA damage that could provide a molecular signature, or biomarker, to forecast how a patients' tumor would respond to treatment and help guide personalized treatment options in the near future.

"Identifying individual biomarkers to better understand how a patient may respond to treatment is an essential step toward personalizing medicine for every individual," said Steven Piantadosi, MD, PhD, director of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and Phase One Foundation Chair. "It is the goal of our cancer institute to combine the most advanced patient-centered clinical care with innovative research that expands treatment options and improves outc

More From ScienceDaily

More Health & Medicine News

Featured Research

Mar. 31, 2015  Fewer than half of the physicians trained in the United States in 2013 received formal education or training on the subject of exercise, according to new research. "There are immense medical benefits ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  Memory and as well as connections between brain cells were restored in mice with a model of Alzheimer's given an experimental cancer drug, researchers report. "With this treatment, cells under ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  Increasing state alcohol taxes could prevent thousands of deaths a year from car crashes, say researchers, who found alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes decreased after taxes on beer, wine and ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  Alcoholism takes a toll on every aspect of a person's life, including skin problems. Now, a new research report helps explain why this happens and what might be done to address it. "The clinical ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  A new population of 'memory' immune cells has been discovered by scientists, throwing light on what the body does when it sees a microbe for the second time. This insight, and others like it, will ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  Coronary heart disease and stroke, two of the leading causes of death in the United States, are diseases associated with heightened platelet reactivity. A new study in humans suggests an underlying ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  A new study had researchers seeking answers to why the therapeutic benefit afforded by SSRIs was so limited in children and teenagers. If researchers can uncover the biological mechanisms preventing ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  A drug being developed to treat osteoporosis may also be useful for treating osteogenesis imperfecta or brittle bone disease, a rare but potentially debilitating bone disorder that that is present ... full story

Mar. 31, 2015  It is possible to quantify and classify the effects of different diseases on the activity of intestinal bacteria, new research demonstrates for the first time. Human intestinal flora, known as ... full story

Featured Videos

Solitair Device Aims to Takes Guesswork out of Sun Safety

Reuters - Innovations Video Online (Mar. 31, 2015)  The Solitair device aims to take the confusion out of how much sunlight we should expose our skin to. Small enough to be worn as a tie or hair clip, it monitors the user&apos;s sun exposure by taking into account their skin pigment, location and schedule. Matthew Stock reports.
Video provided by Reuters

Soda, Salt and Sugar: The Next Generation of Taxes

Washington Post (Mar. 30, 2015)  Denisa Livingston, a health advocate for the Dinι Community Advocacy Alliance, and the Post&apos;s Abby Phillip discuss efforts around the country to make unhealthy food choices hurt your wallet as much as your waistline.
Video provided by Washington Post

S. Leone in New Anti-Ebola Lockdown

AFP (Mar. 28, 2015)  Sierra Leone imposed a three-day nationwide lockdown Friday for the second time in six months in a bid to prevent a resurgence of the deadly Ebola virus. Duration: 01:17
Video provided by AFP

Related Stories

Sep. 16, 2014  For patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, the combination of chemotherapy and stereotactic ablative radiation may be a promising treatment option, ultimately allowing them to undergo ... full story

Feb. 26, 2014  There is a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer in patients with acute pancreatitis than commonly believed, new research demonstrates. researchers have found a link between acute pancreatitis ... full story

Oct. 17, 2013  Investigators have published results of a study showing that administering paclitaxel and gemcitabine in combination significantly improves one- and two-year survival in patients with advanced ... full story

Oct. 8, 2013  Among patients with pancreatic cancer who had surgery for removal of the cancer, treatment with the drug gemcitabine for 6 months resulted in increased overall survival as well as disease-free ... full story

ScienceDaily features breaking news and videos about the latest discoveries in health, technology, the environment, and more -- from major news services and leading universities, scientific journals, and research organizations.